Asteroid Vesta has twice been rocked by mighty impacts

Full Story: BBC News / Science & Environment

A closer look of Asteroid Vesta shows large craters on its surface. A recent analysis of data returned by the orbiting Dawn spacecraft shows this giant rock may have taken a mighty double beating in its southern polar region. These two major impacts gouged out depressions hundreds of kilometers in diameter, and sent shock waves rippling around the body. Scientists are fairly confident that the deep system of troughs extending around Vesta's equator and northern hemisphere are fractures that opened up in the surface as a direct consequence of the southern bombardments.

Read full story for a detailed scientific analysis of battering Asteroid Vesta has received over it previous life.

Photo credit: NASA